Part Five:   Do Animals Have Souls?

Many Christians assume that animals do not have souls and will not be in Heaven. Other Christians acknowledge that animals possess souls in terms of an animating life force but assume that God did not intend for animals to survive physical death. Therefore, their souls extinguish when life ends. Still, others reject the idea of animals in Heaven because the Bible only speaks about people going to Heaven; it does not provide specific information on the eternal destiny of animals.

I reject all three views. Moreover, in the remaining blogs in this series—and especially in my book, Will Dogs Chase Cats in Heaven? People, pets, and Wild Animals in the Afterlife—I will present a compelling biblical case that animals not only possess souls, but their souls will continue to exist after physical death. (In a later blog, we’ll see whether this includes resurrected bodies.) (More below photo)

What Does the Bible Say?

Theological studies on whether or not animals have souls, especially immortal souls, have not been high on the church’s agenda. Nevertheless, theologians who commented on the subject seem to agree that animals have souls. For example, Gary Habermas and J.P Moreland point out that “throughout the history of the church, the classic understanding of living things has included the doctrine that animals, as well as humans, have souls. Christians have maintained this because the Bible teaches that animals have souls” (Habermas and Moreland, Immortality; The Other Side of Death, 51). Even so, many theologians down through the ages have maintained that animal souls are different from human souls in that animal souls are not immortal. So the crux of the argument is not whether animals have souls but whether their souls are immortal or extinguished at physical death.

 To phrase this more positively, the question becomes, if human souls are eternal, why wouldn’t animal souls be eternal? I believe they are. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus warned us not to “be afraid of those who kill the body [soma] but cannot kill the soul [psyche].” The Old Testament agrees: “It came about as her soul was departing (for she died) . . .  “ (Gen. 35:18). These two verses teach that the soul can exist without the body. So again, why would this not also be true of animal souls? The fact is, the exact Hebrew words are used for both human and animals souls. Since this is the case, it seems possible that animal souls, like human souls, can likewise survive physical death.

For Christians, whether or not animals have immortal souls depends on what the Bible says on the subject. In turn, this  hinges, to a large degree, on the definition and application of two Hebrew words translated in the Old Testament as “soul” and “spirit.”

Next week’s blog will give examples of these Hebrew words as they are used for animals.